June’s Which Book is This Anyway: Winner
It is time to announce the winner of June’s Which Book is This Anyway? Did you guess which book it was? (May’s book was Daughter by Jane Shemilt.’)
All we said about it was that ‘this is a book from a popular Irish author which focuses on large changes in the lives of the characters, their relationships and the importance of friendship.’
Well done to Caron Edwards who is our winner this month. The competition for July will be open soon.
About ‘Which Book is This Anyway?’
Many of us judge books by their covers and make our choices based on that and the accompanying blurb. Our competition adds a little mystery.
by 
Blog Tour: The 3rd Woman by Jonathan Freedland
Photo Credit: Philippa Gedge
HarperCollins, July 2015
I am very pleased to welcoming author, Jonathan Freedland to Novel Kicks today. His latest novel, The 3rd Woman is due to be published later this week on 2nd July. Here’s the blurb:
SHE CAN’T SAVE HER SISTER
Journalist Madison Webb is obsessed with exposing lies and corruption. But she never thought she would be investigating her own sister’s murder.
SHE CAN’T TRUST THE POLICE
Madison refuses to accept the official line that Abigail’s death was an isolated crime. She uncovers evidence that suggests Abi was the third victim in a series of killings hushed up as part of a major conspiracy.
SHE CAN EXPOSE THE TRUTH
In a United States that now bows to the People’s Republic of China, corruption is rife – the government dictates what the ‘truth’ is. With her life on the line, Madison must give up her quest for justice, or face the consequences…
Jonathan is an award-winning journalist, author and broadcaster. He writes a weekly column for The Guardian and his also presents BBC Radio 4’s The Long View. He has written seven books (two are non-fiction) as Jonathan Freedland and has also written best-selling novels under the pseudonym, Sam Bourne.
As part of the blog tour, we review the novel but first, Jonathan (and HarperCollins) have kindly shared an extract. Enjoy.
Nothing that suggested a struggle. Maddy recalled the words and, above all, the expression on the detective’s face as she had said them. How dared she imply that Abigail had been some kind of willing participant in her own death? Of course it was murder, of course it was. Madison just had to get the police to realize it. And soon: she had covered enough homicide cases to know that speed was critical. They always talked about that ‘golden hour’, the period immediately after a homicide has been discovered when detectives are able to gather the most, and the best, forensic evidence from a crime scene. Maddy feared that time had been and gone. That while they played around with their absurd sex-game theory, valuable evidence might be vanishing.
by Review: A Little in Love by Susan Fletcher
Paris, 1832. A street girl lies alone in the darkness, clutching a letter to her heart.
Eponine remembers being a child: her swing and the peach tree, and the baby brother she loved. But mostly she remembers being miserable. Taught to lie and cheat, and to hate the one girl, Cosette, who might have been her friend.
Now, at sixteen, the two girls meet again and Eponine has one more chance. But what is the price of friendship – the love of a boy.
I am only familiar with Les Misérables as far as the Hollywood film version (with Hugh Jackman.) I know, I know. The book has been on my to read pile for so long and now, after reading A Little in Love, I might have to get around to reading it.
The story of A Little in Love begins when Eponine is sixteen and it then goes back to when she was a child. Out of all the characters in Les Misérables, Eponine is the character I have always been intrigued with the most. She wants to be a good person – decent and kind but the circumstances of her life conspire against her.
She does not have the best start in life and in trying to gain her mother’s love, she turns her back on the one girl who may have been her friend – Cosette. I found Eponine’s story so heartbreaking. Anyone who has an idea of the story knows what happens to her but that did not stop me from willing it to end differently.
by Novel Kicks Fiction Friday: Four People
Friday 26th June 2015.
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s Prompt: Pick four people (it could be anyone.) Your character is having them around for dinner. What would the conversation be about? Do they all get on? Write this entirely in dialogue.
by Book Haul: Five Books For June
It is time for another book haul. I have brought and been sent some great and interesting titles this month and I wanted to share five of them with you. The five books below have been sent via publishers. What books have you received/brought this month? I’d love to know in the comments box below.
The first book is The Astrologer’s Daughter by Rebecca Lim.
I am loving this cover. This is the first book I will have read by Rebecca Lim (she is the author of the Mercy series) and I am looking forward to reading this book. It sounds very interesting. It is published by Text Publishing on 25th June 2015. It’s available in paperback and also as an e-book. Here’s the blurb:
The Astrologer’s Daughter is the story of Avicenna Crowe, whose astrologer mother has suddenly gone missing. Avicenna Crowe’s mother, Joanne, is an astrologer with uncanny predictive powers and a history of being stalked. Now she is missing. The police are called, but they’re not asking the right questions. Like why Joanne lied about her past, and what she saw in her stars that made her so afraid.
The second novel is The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon.
This book is one I am particularly looking forward to reading. It sounds very intriguing and I very much like the sound of the premise. It was one of those ideas that, when I read the blurb, I said to myself ‘I wish I had thought of that idea.’ Available in paperback and electronically, it’s published by W&N (18th June 2015.)
by Book Club
